AHPA requests that Congress not consider MPL during lame duck session in recent letter

The American Herbal Products Association (AHPA; Silver Spring, MD) has sent a letter to the chairmans and ranking members of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, & Pension (HELP) and House Committee on Energy & Commerce, requesting that the 117th Congress refrain from considering any amendments to the Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act (FD&C) that would affect the regulation of dietary supplements in its lame duck session. Specifically, AHPA requested the exclusion of any amendment that would establish a requirement for mandatory products listings, which has been considered in previous legislation.

AHPA says it is not opposed to the occasional need to amend FD&C in order to revise FDA’s authority over dietary supplements to ensure products are safe, and property manufactured and labeled, citing its support of a 2006 amendment to require dietary supplement marketers to submit any and all reports of serious adverse events to FDA. However, given the interest in reviewing and considering amendments to several provisions of FD&C that would affect dietary supplements, AHPA believes strongly that these amendments should be addressed collectively in the 118th Congress. That way, stakeholders can fully engage with Congress.